What is the most neglected piece of equipment in the public speaker's arsenal?  It’s a trick question.  The answer is not the clicker, or your laptop, or your mike. No, it’s your voice. Most speakers take their voices completely for granted. And that’s a big mistake. Voices need care and feeding. Most of us talk all day long, and by the end of the day – and after a decade or two – it shows. 

Every voice has something called the maximum resonance point (MRP).  You can find your own, if you’re not tone deaf and you have access to a keyboard.  Determine the lowest note you can comfortably sing, and the highest.  (Men, don’t use your falsetto range for this purpose.)  Count the number of white notes you span.  Divide that number by 4, and then count that many notes up from the bottom of your range.  That note is your maximum resonance point.

Why is that important?  Because all sorts of good things happen at that point.  Most simply, resonance is pleasing to our ears, so people will respond favorably to your voice.  Second, your voice is happiest at that pitch, so it will last longer than if you try to speak higher or lower habitually.  Men often try to speak lower than their MRP, and women sometimes go higher.  The result is a strangled tone that pleases no one and puts strain on the voice — and causes long-term damage. 

But there’s more.  There’s some research that shows that we put out overtones and undertones – especially undertones – that are outside of the range of human hearing.  Amazingly, groups align these tones with the leader of the group.  We literally get on the same wavelength as the leader — the one with the best undertones!  So at your MRP, where you’re putting out the most undertones, you have the best chance to take over leadership of your group.  (And you thought leadership was something you earned by good practices or clever dealing!) 

Have I convinced you to take care of your voice?  If you don’t support your voice with good breathing, as well as the obvious – no smoking, restrained drinking, and so on – you will put long-term strain on it and end up sounding like Marlon Brando in The Godfather.  Breathing — belly breathing — is the first and most fundamental step.  I've blogged on the importance of belly breathing before.  

Recently, Klaus Moller, a voice coach based in Denmark, published a great little ebook that gives you a quick primer in how to take care of your voice, and how to produce good sounds with it.  Go to his website, here, and download it.  You’ll find it very useful.  He's charging a little for it, but it's worth it, and so is your voice.